An estimated one in five adults in the United States had chronic pain in 2021, with 6.9% experiencing intense pain that limited their daily activities, according to the CDC.
The data also revealed disparities among certain population groups.
Chronic pain, or pain that lasts for at least 3 months, can be a debilitating condition that affects various aspects of life for many people in the U.S., S. Michaela Rikard, PhD, a public health analytics and modeling fellow at the CDC’s division of overdose prevention, and colleagues wrote. It has also been linked to substance use, depression, higher